Congress
\nvoted on cannabis\u2019s biggest victory ever on Capitol Hill today.<\/p>\n
The Blumenauer-McClintock amendment <\/a>blocks the Department of Justice from using its resources to go after state-legal marijuana providers is the biggest cannabis vote on Capitol Hill since Congress passed a similar measure in 2014 protecting the medical cannabis industry. <\/p>\n Today\u2019s vote was quick. And just as fast those in support took control. The effort won by a giant margin of one hundred votes with 267 members of the house voting in support including numerous Republicans and 165 members voting against the amendment. The Senate will be voting on the amendment next.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the most significant vote on marijuana reform policy that The 48 hours leading up to the vote saw everyone on both sides of the argument coming out of the woodwork, we were only missing a Kennedy. While anti-pot Camelot\u2019s own Patrick Kennedy had posted about the failure of New York to legalize on his Twitter, he looks to be avoiding the loss today. \u00a0And that\u2019s not me saying that, Kennedy\u2019s Smarter Approaches to Marijuana colleague Kevin Sabet said on Twitter<\/a> that he expected today\u2019s vote in the House to be brutal. Sabet does expect the resolution to fail in the Senate. <\/p>\n In the lead up to the vote Sabet<\/a> and NORML political director Justin Strekal<\/a> offered competing Op-eds in The Hill, one of the most read publications by Congress. <\/p>\n This \u201cThe Michael \u201cThe \u201cBad Sabet went on to talk about the super weed of the present not being what you brought to Woodstock before saying the \u201cpot shops\u201d the amendment protects are linked to higher level of crime. Sabet based the crime claim on a recent National Institute on Drug Abuse study. However recent research<\/a> from the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research that reviewed 42 studies on the impact of dispensaries on crime recently found the exact opposite. <\/p>\n We \u201cIt Altieri went on to address Sabet\u2019s claims about a powerless FDA. <\/p>\n \u201cEnding the arrest of cannabis consumers is definitively an issue of civil liberties and racial justice and not something we should defer to the FDA on, nor do they seem to have any interest in becoming involved,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Altieri said prohibitionists are also currently using talking points that are distinctly out of touch with current research. <\/p>\n \u201cFor instance, instead of increasing crime, a broad body of research has revealed that the opening of a dispensary has decreased incidents of crime in the neighborhoods they occupy. I guess if I knew the broad majority of the American public was laughing my arguments, I\u2019d throw all kinds of absurd things at the wall too.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, do you think the DOJ should let states do their thing when it comes to cannabis?<\/p>\n The post Blumenauer-McClintock Amendment Passes House<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Congress voted on cannabis\u2019s biggest victory ever on Capitol Hill today. The Blumenauer-McClintock amendment blocks the Department of Justice from using its resources to go after state-legal marijuana providers is the biggest cannabis vote on Capitol Hill since Congress passed a similar measure in 2014 protecting the medical cannabis industry.Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36283,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36282\/revisions\/36283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nthe House of Representatives has ever taken,\u201d said NORML Political Director
\nJustin Strekal in a statement following the vote. \u201cToday\u2019s action by Congress
\nhighlights the growing power of the marijuana law reform movement and the
\nincreasing awareness by political leaders that the policy of prohibition and
\ncriminalization has failed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nmorning Sabet offered readers a tale of the Food and Drug Administration being
\npowerless to stop big marijuana from getting its hands on the youth of America,
\nand being further unable to take action against bad actors without the help of
\nthe DOJ. <\/p>\n
\nFDA relies on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to take enforcement action when a
\ncompany refuses to comply with warnings from the FDA,\u201d Sabet wrote, \u201cShould
\nthis amendment pass into law, the FDA would be hamstrung as they would not be
\nable to use the DOJ to bring about enforcement action against those who are
\nactively taking advantage of the cover given by this amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nLiszewski has been working on federal cannabis reform for over a decade on the
\nhill and currently serves as a Policy Advisor to the Students for Sensible Drug
\nPolicy. We asked Liszewski if the FDA would really be as powerless as Sabet
\nclaimed should the vote be in its favor. . <\/p>\n
\nDepartment of Justice is still free to investigate cannabis cases under the
\nBlumenauer Amendment, they just can\u2019t prosecute without a state law violation,\u201d
\nLiszewski,<\/p>\n
\nactors violating FDA rules can\u2019t hide behind this amendment, it only protects
\nindividuals obeying state law.\u201d <\/p>\n
\nasked NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri his take on what Sabet wrote. <\/p>\n
\nis no surprise our opponents are now twisting themselves into knots to find
\nways to legitimize the continued practice of our failed policy of prohibition,\u201d
\nAltieri told Cannabis Now in an email. \u201cThey know the writing is on the wall
\nand they are losing this fight. As they come to that realization, their
\narguments are becoming more detached from reality and more desperate. <\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: Blumenauer-McClintock Amendment Passes House<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"